Damian Lewis on Homeland!

"Straight to the sore point," sighs Damian Lewis, slouching
deeper into an armchair in the library room of London's Covent
Garden Hotel. GQ has made the mistake of bringing up the
Golden Globes: while Lewis' stunning new
psychological drama Homeland won Best Show at the awards
ceremony last month, Lewis lost out to former Frasier star
Kelsey Grammar for Best Actor. "I went up to Kelsey to say
congratulations afterwards," says Lewis. "He replied 'Who are you?'
He didn't really - but he said it with his eyes." Although
a Londoner, Lewis is a Hollywood veteran, impressing in the likes
of Band of Brothers and shortlived NBC drama
Life, plus a recent stint opposite Keira Knightley in the West End in The
Misanthrope. Homeland is his biggest gig yet: a smart,
adult thriller with a knack for explosive twists, led by Lewis's
prisoner of war and Claire Danes as Carrie, a paranoid CIA field
agent convinced that he has been turned to Al Qaeda. Ahead of the
series' debut on Channel 4 later this month, we chat to Lewis about
the difficulty of sex scenes, TVR problems and Billy Idol
karaoke...

GQ.com: After your marine training for Band Of
Brothers did you go back for a refresher course for
Homeland?
Damian Lewis: No, I didn't - even though I'm playing a US soldier
this is very different. I researched a little bit into what it's
like to be a sniper, because Brody is part of the sniper platoon. I
also read Brian Keenan's An Evil Cradling, which is a
brilliant account of his three and a half years in prison in
Beirut.

Given the number of twists, how much did they tell you
ahead of time?
I had long phone calls with the creators. Starting out I was keen
for Brody not to be a brainwashed soldier à la The Manchurian
Candidate but that he had made a strong choice himself to
convert to Islam. Then it would be up to [series
producers] Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon as to how much they
preyed on audience fears that when someone converts that therefore
make them a terrorist. It is far more interesting if a Marine
choses Islam as a force of good that helped him and for him to be
able to find the beauty in a religion that a lot of people are
suspicious of. The writers agreed with that but they also
said "He has to be the threat." In the end the reasons for why he
acts are different than you might expect.

You and some of cast lived together during filming.
What's a Homeland party like? Ginger and lemon tea, a nice vegetarian dish... maybe if
we're feeling raucous an After Eight, and then home to bed. We're
very committed. [laughs] A lot of us lived in the same
apartment block, so we were quite good at giving dinner parties. My
proudest moment was cooking eggs and bacon for brunch before going
off to watch the Carolina Panthers play - we lined our stomachs for
drinking a lot of cheap beer.

What's the best thing you can cook? I've gone back to my favourite book which I used when I
was a bachelor, which is Gary Rhodes' Great Fast Food.
It's absolutely brilliant. It does take forever if you have to buy
all the ingredients just for that recipe though - you go around the
aisles and it takes about three hours.

What restaurant do you always go back to? I do love J. Sheekey. Pop in quickly late night for the
fish pie and buttered green beans. The Arboath Smokies they do are
great and they do a fantastic kedgeree, with a lovely poached egg
just sitting on top. Potted shrimps are also a favourite.

GQ cover star Keira Knightley
recently said she has vodka before sex scenes and champagne after.
What's your secret? That's like a medicine and a celebration, isn't it? I
don't have champagne after sex scenes. I'm full of self doubt and
self analysis - just like in real life! In my view there's usually
a much sexier way of bringing two people together than seeing
explicit sex. In Homeland they're not healthy, functioning
experiences. They're an indication of the psychological breakdown
and the damage that now exists in a marriage, particularly for this
soldier returning from war. Sometimes on [American cable
channel] Showtime there's an obligation to do sex
scenes, just because they can.

As a Liverpool fan, what do you think of Kenny
Dalglish's current team?
Well, it would seem as though he's bought three failing players at
the moment: Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Stuart Downing. So that's
not good for his record but Suarez is an outstanding signing and
Charlie Adam is a good signing too. The jury's still out. But Kenny
is the man for the job. I got to know him a bit doing a Soccer Aid
thing and he invited me over to watch a game. He's definitely the
people's choice.

You used to drive a TVR - what do you drive
now?
My TVR was brilliant and very fast... when I could get it started!
If I went away for two or three weeks and it just sat in the road
in damp London, it always ran into a bit of trouble getting it
going again. Now I drive an Audi A6 Allroad. It's a fantastic car.
I'm sponsored by Audi, so I have this rather lovely rather
arrangement where they just insist that I'm always in the latest
model. I just drove the new Audi TT RS in LA for the last
five days and it was a lot of fun. Big enough boot for golf clubs
as well - that's a crucial element.

We hear you formed a band at the Homeland wrap
party...
I'm always forming bands. We had a band in Life called
the Breezeways, because we'd sit there and jam on the tail lift of
the camera truck parked in the breezeway at Universal. We did it
again on Homeland and we actually played four or
five songs at the rap party. I can now say I've played and sung
Billy Idol's "White Wedding" in front of a crowd of 200 people.
That band was called Yummy Yummy Yummy and if you watch Homeland - a bit of inside trivia here -
there's a clue to why we're called that on the show. Answers on a
stamped envelope to the GQ address!

Where do you go for suits? This jacket is Emporio Armani and it's absolutely lovely.
Armani are very generous and they have dressed me on a number of
occasions. For the Golden Globes I went British and wore a midnight
blue Burberry tux, which was, if I may say so
myself, outstanding. I enjoyed it enormously. What else do
I like? I've got a nice Dolce & Gabbana suit and wear basics like John Smedley V-necks over £9.99 H&M T-shirts. My watch is actually my
father's gift to my son, but I'm wearing it because my son is four
and he can't yet.

Who is your best-dressed British man? [Scoffs and points at himself] Well, what an
insulting question! Holy mackerel, that's very difficult. [long
silence] Well he's not British but I'll tell you who was
dressed fabulously at the Golden Globes: James Cromwell, who was in
Babe and also in The Artist.

It is a terrible thing when the greats are overlooked because of connections. Hollywood should move over and give the great actors their do's. Never before have we seen an actor do such difficult roles and come across as loveable. Wake up Hollywood and do the right thing. Damian Lewis is just fabulous.

Louise

03 Feb 2012

Damian Lewis was brilliant in Life, and it is a shame that NBC did not back the show. Thank goodness for Showtime for bringing together a brilliant cast, writers, producers, directors. Homeland is just fantastic. Proud that it is filmed in Charlotte. As for the Golden Globes, the only people who should be embarassed is the Hollywood Foreign Press Corps. Once again Damian Lewis was cheated out of receiving recognition for brilliant work.